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CINCINNATI BENGALS VS. SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS SUPER BOWL XVI THE 49ERS HIT PAY DIRT The fertile mind of Bill Walsh, who was changing plays up to the last minute, and the potent arm of Joe Montana doomed the Bengals

CINCINNATI BENGALS VS. SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS SUPER BOWL XVI THE 49ERS HIT PAY DIRT The fertile mind of Bill Walsh, who was changing plays up to the last minute, and the potent arm of Joe Montana doomed the Bengals

I HAD VERY WARM FEELings about the San Francisco 49ers. They werethe team I had watched in my Stanford days, when I sat in the endzone in Kezar (just Kezar, never Kezar Stadium) and rooted hard forFrankie Albert and Norm Standlee, Billy Wilson and Leo Nomellini. Andnow the Niners would become destiny's darlings in Super Bowl XVIagainst the Cincinnati Bengals.They were a team that had come together defensively with threerookie defensive backs (Ronnie Lott, Eric Wright and CarltonWilliamson) and a pair of imports, linebacker Jack Reynolds (fromthe Los Angeles Rams) and pass- rush specialist Fred Dean (SanDiego).And offensively? Who can forget The Catch late in the fourthquarter of the NFC playoff game with Dallas, Joe Montana to DwightClark. Final score: 28-27.It was going to be a nifty Super Bowl, except for one thing: Ifound myself at the center of a huge controversy. On Tuesday we hadshown up for picture day at the Pontiac Silverdome, only to be keptwaiting an hour outside in the freezing cold. Just let us waitinside, we pleaded, in an interview room or at least someplace wherethere is a little heat. The cops were having none of it. Clearly wesportswriters fell into the undesirable-character category and shouldbe treated as such.The next day I was on Good Morning America. I was still burningabout that Tuesday thing. I said something about the cossacks whoguarded the stadium. I mentioned that it wasn't much of an idea tohold the game in Detroit. They asked me what I thought of the city.I said, ''Who saw it?'' They had billeted us in a hotel overlookingthe frozen tundra, about 15 miles outside town.I knew something was up when one of the TV technicians wanted tofight me after the show. ''I'll bet you're one of those wise guysfrom New York,'' he said. ''No,'' I said, ''I'm from Hamtramck,Michigan.'' ''Like hell you are.'' ''Like hell I'm not.'' Then theypulled us apart.Detroit took my words as an insult to the city. One TV columnistprinted the phone number of our hotel and my room number. I gotround-the-clock crank calls and two death threats. A note about crankcallers: The women were much better than the men. They would sayabout the same vile things, but they stayed on the telephone longenough so you could fire back. The men would just blurt out whateverthey had to say and hang up right away.It was a relief, actually, to be around the players and conductinterviews. No one could get you in his cross hairs with playersaround, right?The fertile mind of Bill Walsh had cooked up all sorts of specialthings for the game. There was the Fox-Two Special, with bothwideouts on the same side, running inside routes, and the fullback,Earl Cooper, heading toward the middle of the line and then veeringout behind the wideouts as a receiver. The Niners hadn't used theFox-Two Special in two years. This time they got a touchdown out ofit.Walsh also came up with the idea of Ray Wersching squibbing hiskickoffs, getting them to bounce and slide on the artificial carpet.Three Bengal kickoff returns failed to reach the 20.Walsh assigned his defensive coach, Chuck Studley, to concoct an''exotic blitz.'' What Studley came up with was named Cobra, withDean stacked as a middle linebacker. It forced a sack that killed afirst-quarter Cincinnati drive.Things were changed right up to kickoff. ''Our bus was delayedcoming into the stadium,'' Montana said. ''If it would have been outthere another hour, Walsh would have put in a whole new offense.''''How about this one,'' guard Randy Cross said. ''The CornerFreeze. Dip our cornerbacks in water, leave 'em outside to ice overand then throw 'em at the receivers, like spears.''The Niners jumped out in front, and it was 20-0 at the half. TheBengals scored on their first possession of the third quarter. Nearthe end of the quarter came the series everyone said decided thegame. The Niners put up a goal-line stand that stopped Cincinnation four shots from the one. It was a dramatic moment, but it didn'tdecide the game at all -- another example of misguided Super Bowlexpertise. The Niners punted, and Cincy scored on its nextpossession. All the goal-line stand did was buy time. What determinedthe game was San Francisco putting up field goals on its next twopossessions, which sent the game out of reach at 26-14. The finalscore was 26-21.There was a postscript. At the league meetings in Phoenix, Ibumped into Curt Sylvester of the Detroit Free Press. He said my namewas still mentioned in Detroit. He asked me for a quote aboutPhoenix.''Too hot,'' I said. ''Wish I was in Detroit.'' Later he told methey received some letters, including the likes of, ''The nerve ofthat Zimmerman guy: First he doesn't like Detroit, now he doesn'tlike Phoenix.'' You can't win.